In March, NatWest and RBS cash machines crashed for the second time this year.

Mark King, Moneywise editor, told the Daily Telegraph: "The interesting point about NatWest is that they appear to have been seen to deal with the IT problem they had well.

"While they responded to the issue slowly, they did eventually put things right, and customers seemed to respect that."

He added: "It's also the case that a reasonable number of people don't automatically link them to RBS and so see them as less impacted by the financial crisis than we might imagine."

RBS hired Kiwi Ross McEwan to run its retail empire last year. Just two months ago, he revealed plans to open "mini" branches of NatWest in train stations and shopping centres.

The Moneywise award for the most trusted financial service provider went to the Yorkshire Building Society, ending three successive victories for First Direct.

First Direct picked up three gongs, including best current account for call centre service. The Bank of Scotland won the award for "most improved bank". The Co-op topped the poll for best current account for branch service.

Over the weekend, it emerged that Barclays had been voted the "least trusted bank".